Post by Teddy Bear on Jun 5, 2011 18:44:15 GMT
The BBC sends hundreds of its staff to Glastonbury each year for the music festival, supposedly to cover the events there. The only licence fee payers likely to benefit from this extravagance are the nearby hotels which will be booked to capacity.
Each year there are outcries from the public about how the BBC use these type of events as pure junkets for the staff and an excuse for a party at the license fee payers expense. The BBC response is simply to ignore the main thrust of this criticism by uttering banal excuses which skirt around the issue. This is probably why they are now paying $40k to send one of their execs to Harvard to study a course on how to explain their cuts', which translated means how to run the propaganda to justify cutting services to the public while pissing the money away on themselves.
Here's an example:
Last night a BBC spokesman said: 'It is a legal requirement to provide for employees working away from home.
'Hotels were booked through an internal system to ensure best value for money.'
The BBC said it sent 274 staff to Glastonbury in 2010 and hoped to send fewer this year.
It refused to comment on cost, claiming the information was commercially sensitive.
If it smells like shit, and looks like shit - don't step in it.
Each year there are outcries from the public about how the BBC use these type of events as pure junkets for the staff and an excuse for a party at the license fee payers expense. The BBC response is simply to ignore the main thrust of this criticism by uttering banal excuses which skirt around the issue. This is probably why they are now paying $40k to send one of their execs to Harvard to study a course on how to explain their cuts', which translated means how to run the propaganda to justify cutting services to the public while pissing the money away on themselves.
Here's an example:
Last night a BBC spokesman said: 'It is a legal requirement to provide for employees working away from home.
'Hotels were booked through an internal system to ensure best value for money.'
The BBC said it sent 274 staff to Glastonbury in 2010 and hoped to send fewer this year.
It refused to comment on cost, claiming the information was commercially sensitive.
If it smells like shit, and looks like shit - don't step in it.
Why no tent city? BBC books 200 rooms in 14 hotels for its Glastonbury festival army
Music-lovers famously 'rough it' in tents come mud, rain or shine during the Glastonbury Festival.
But the BBC has booked hundreds of rooms in the finest hotels nearby because it seems only the best will do for its large army of staff covering the event.
Once ensconced, they will be able to enjoy Jacuzzis and sumptuous furniture at vast expense, funded by licence fee-payers.
An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found that the BBC has secured more than 200 rooms within a 14-mile radius of the Somerset festival for its employees.
The reservations include block-booking more than 14 separate hotels and guest houses.
Among the rooms are a luxury suite with gilded furniture which normally costs from £300 to £500 a night, Scandinavian log cabins which are normally £500 a week and a nine-room 'Mediterranean-style' hotel with heated swimming pool.
As a result, ordinary festival-goers who prefer a warm room to a tent are finding accommodation increasingly hard to come by. Many are now having to stay in rooms as far away as Bath, which is more than 20 miles from the festival site.
Last night one hotelier claimed bookings for BBC staff covering the festival at this month may extend to 400 rooms.
He said: 'It’s common knowledge round here that the BBC is trying to get its hands on as many rooms as possible. It prefers locations near the festival site.'
News of the BBC's splurge on accommodation will re-ignite concerns it is squandering money on Glastonbury.
Each year, the BBC spends around £1.7 million on its television and radio coverage.
Critics wonder why such unlikely names as Andrew Marr should be in attendance for the BBC at a rock music festival.
Doubters also question why it has to send more than 400 staff, pointing out it sent about the same number to Beijing in 2008 to provide many more hours of Olympic coverage.
But the BBC seems set on a large presence at Glastonbury. Local hotels say it has begun booking rooms a year in advance and on a rolling basis.
Sources say the BBC's accommodation bill this year for the three-day event could run into tens of thousands of pounds.
The BBC has booked all 54 rooms in the four-star Swan Hotel in Wells, on a prime location opposite the cathedral.
The most expensive room is the Cathedral suite, which usually costs up to £500 a night and comes complete with a 'sumptuous bedroom and sitting room', gilded French furniture and silk drapes.
The hotel also boasts 48 en suite bedrooms, which cost upwards of £198 a night, and five chalets which sleep two to four people and normally cost £570 to £680 a week.
The BBC has also block-booked both the 51-room Wessex Hotel and the 24-room Bear Inn in the village of Street.
The Wessex charges £90 a night for an ordinary twin or double room and £160 for a 'romantic' four-poster Jacuzzi room.
At four-star Meare Manor, in Glastonbury, BBC staff will stay in what was once a summer residence for abbots.
The normal £120-a-night room tariff includes complimentary port and sherry.
The BBC has also snapped up seven £500-a-week Scandinavian log cottages near the village of Pilton.
Staff will also be based in nine-room Coxley Vineyard hotel near Wells, which has a heated pool and 'sun-trapped' courtyard.
Last night a BBC spokesman said: 'It is a legal requirement to provide for employees working away from home.
'Hotels were booked through an internal system to ensure best value for money.'
The BBC said it sent 274 staff to Glastonbury in 2010 and hoped to send fewer this year.
It refused to comment on cost, claiming the information was commercially sensitive.
Music-lovers famously 'rough it' in tents come mud, rain or shine during the Glastonbury Festival.
But the BBC has booked hundreds of rooms in the finest hotels nearby because it seems only the best will do for its large army of staff covering the event.
Once ensconced, they will be able to enjoy Jacuzzis and sumptuous furniture at vast expense, funded by licence fee-payers.
An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found that the BBC has secured more than 200 rooms within a 14-mile radius of the Somerset festival for its employees.
The reservations include block-booking more than 14 separate hotels and guest houses.
Among the rooms are a luxury suite with gilded furniture which normally costs from £300 to £500 a night, Scandinavian log cabins which are normally £500 a week and a nine-room 'Mediterranean-style' hotel with heated swimming pool.
As a result, ordinary festival-goers who prefer a warm room to a tent are finding accommodation increasingly hard to come by. Many are now having to stay in rooms as far away as Bath, which is more than 20 miles from the festival site.
Last night one hotelier claimed bookings for BBC staff covering the festival at this month may extend to 400 rooms.
He said: 'It’s common knowledge round here that the BBC is trying to get its hands on as many rooms as possible. It prefers locations near the festival site.'
News of the BBC's splurge on accommodation will re-ignite concerns it is squandering money on Glastonbury.
Each year, the BBC spends around £1.7 million on its television and radio coverage.
Critics wonder why such unlikely names as Andrew Marr should be in attendance for the BBC at a rock music festival.
Doubters also question why it has to send more than 400 staff, pointing out it sent about the same number to Beijing in 2008 to provide many more hours of Olympic coverage.
But the BBC seems set on a large presence at Glastonbury. Local hotels say it has begun booking rooms a year in advance and on a rolling basis.
Sources say the BBC's accommodation bill this year for the three-day event could run into tens of thousands of pounds.
The BBC has booked all 54 rooms in the four-star Swan Hotel in Wells, on a prime location opposite the cathedral.
The most expensive room is the Cathedral suite, which usually costs up to £500 a night and comes complete with a 'sumptuous bedroom and sitting room', gilded French furniture and silk drapes.
The hotel also boasts 48 en suite bedrooms, which cost upwards of £198 a night, and five chalets which sleep two to four people and normally cost £570 to £680 a week.
The BBC has also block-booked both the 51-room Wessex Hotel and the 24-room Bear Inn in the village of Street.
The Wessex charges £90 a night for an ordinary twin or double room and £160 for a 'romantic' four-poster Jacuzzi room.
At four-star Meare Manor, in Glastonbury, BBC staff will stay in what was once a summer residence for abbots.
The normal £120-a-night room tariff includes complimentary port and sherry.
The BBC has also snapped up seven £500-a-week Scandinavian log cottages near the village of Pilton.
Staff will also be based in nine-room Coxley Vineyard hotel near Wells, which has a heated pool and 'sun-trapped' courtyard.
Last night a BBC spokesman said: 'It is a legal requirement to provide for employees working away from home.
'Hotels were booked through an internal system to ensure best value for money.'
The BBC said it sent 274 staff to Glastonbury in 2010 and hoped to send fewer this year.
It refused to comment on cost, claiming the information was commercially sensitive.